Cat’s Fur To Make Kittens’ Britches

I don’t know what got me onto thinking about cat idioms today.  Perhaps it was Marta telling us last night that she had been cat sitting “two darling kitties who know me well but are so aloof!  They will NOT be won over by cuddling, though I’ve been sitting with them and trying for at least five years!”

Or maybe it was Charlie saying that FINALLY Lupe has been a bit playful with Rosencrantz, her newish little brother who wants so much to be friends but, until yesterday, has been rebuffed at every attempt.  Yes, I’ve had cats and kittens on my mind!

So, when I woke up to the gentle pitter-patter of raindrops, it’s probably no wonder I thought, “at least it’s not coming down cats and dogs…”  And then I was off and running.  I thought about our back forty and how there is finally “room enough to swing a cat.”  And I began to think about other cat expressions — “letting the cat out of the bag” and “Cat got your tongue?” and, of course, “It’s the cat’s meow.”

There are a gazillion of them.  How about “that’s the cat’s pajamas!” and “purring with pleasure” or “looking like something the cat dragged in.”  Then there is something that happens a lot when  you’re trying to organize a bunch of toddlers — you know: it’s a lot like “herding cats.”

And, for heaven’s sake, don’t act too nervous or you’ll be compared to “a cat on a hot tin roof” — (not the play by Tennessee Williams, though).  There’s the old “cat and mouse game” and, of course, “while the cat’s away, the mice will play!”

There are probably many more that I don’t know or have forgotten.  But, never mind.  Even one or two of them beats the initialisms that we have all fallen into of late — DYNA?

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